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| 23rd February 2007 |
Stalls at the StartA brief reminder of an unusual experiment from the sport's history. |
Track Pictures: NewportMore pictures from Graham Porter this week, this time of the Hayley Stadium in Newport. The track celebrates its tenth anniversary with a special meeting at the start of the new season. |
Dream Team: Steve HoneSteve is a former rider who is now track photographer at the Norfolk Arena and a regular photographic contributor to this site. He includes personal friends and former heroes in his selection. |
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"My how this article and the others about West Ham have rekindled some wonderful
memories of my visits, albeit too few, to Custom House during the late sixties and early seventies as a teenager. I used to travel by bus, tube and then the stadium special buses from
Plaistow underground from my parents home in South London (Crofton Park). I always had to leave before the second half races got underway in order to catch the last tube from Whitechapel
to New Cross or New Cross Gate.
Being a Millwall football fan meant that during the football season and speedway season 'overlap' my pocket money had to stretch further than was possible and I often had to walk home from
New Cross as I would not have enough money to go the Den later in the week. Not sure I would consider doing the same journey nowadays from a safety aspect! But then again I was young and
carefree in those days!
I clearly remember the stadium and even Ivan Mauger in his 'flashy' leathers. Tony Clarke and Sverre Harrfeldt were my favourites although Christer Lofqvist was to become my alltime
favourite rider following Sverre's injury in I believe the European Final of the World Championship. Oh so many memories! I currently run a 'Fantasy' West Ham speedway team in the speedway
postal game run by sportingdreams.com - Although I have had to call them 'Dockers' as the Hammers name was not allowed. Thanks for the memories." "Scott Wormleighton was in the British Final at Coventry on the same day as Chris Clarence. They shared track reserve duties, Scott however scored a point when Graham Jones fell off - 1 point more than Alun Rossiter who scored 0 making him finish in 14th place." "A wonderful site. Many congratulations, so many memories." |
| 15th February 2007 |
Interview: Olly AllenAlex Raby meets up with Oliver Allen of the Coventry Bees to reflect upon his career to date. It's a very honest account of events so far and Olly clearly believes he can progress further yet. |
Track Pictures: White City (London)This venue staged many big-events before being demolished in the eighties to make way for an extension at the BBC TV centre. That building itself is now under threat, though there seems little chance of it being replaced by a speedway stadium. |
Dream Team: Nige BurtonA Reading Racers team that is led by the brilliant Dave Jessup. There's also a place for a man that Nige describes as a 'Glamourpuss'. |
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Claim Your FREE Copy of Backtrack!We've teamed up once again with Retro-Speedway to offer you another incredible offer. For a limited time only SpeedwayPlus visitors can claim a free copy of Backtrack, the magazine that recalls the great days of the Seventies and Eighties. If you're not already a subscriber then this is an ideal way to see what the publication is all about. There are no hidden catches, costs or obligations, we simply hope you'll enjoy it sufficiently to consider paying for a copy in the future! Claiming your copy couldn't be easier. Simply email Tony McDonald at editorial@retro-speedway.com with your name, home address and quote "SpeedwayPlus free copy offer".
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"Paul Emmick certainly has a different opinion to me, and to many others I feel. Greatest ever rider Hans Neilsen????, he was a one trick pony, and that trick was getting out of the gate. Could anyone name any great Neilsen passes that didn't involve the rider being passed coming to grief?
Whilst I would agree that some stadia leave a lot to be desired, I am sure that the supporters at that track would rather have a track than not have one whatever the facilities. Personal circumstance tell me that. The rider shortage can be solved by the usual points limit method if the promoters wanted to solve it.
The new super7eries is a great initiative but people seem keen to rubbish it 3 months prior to a wheel being turned, we all know that these events can be financially disasterous without a base attendance and the creation of the series tries to address that. The example of the Premier League Fours at Peterboro is not really valid as The Showground has been that events traditional home for many years, and unless I'm mistaken was (and will be) well attended by travelling fans. This development deserves praise not criticism at this stage. No wonder promoters dont try many new things if this is the sort of response they get! " "I have to date not seen a copy of the Backtrack publication, but certainly Tony McDonald is very enthusiastic of his product and I will try to obtain a copy in the near future. I haven't seen a recent copy of VSM either so I will try to see that one as well.
My own particular memories go back to the late 50's and 60's when living in Coventry and following the Bees. I lived up until last August in Weymouth so was certainly involved with Weymouth (and Poole when Mervyn moved up To Wimborne Road). I was Pit Marshal at Weymouth until last year but now having moved up into Wiltshire am going to miss the involvement with the new Promoters sadly.
As a Printer I must say I look forward to the production of Speedway Plus as a Web Magazine, you produce a good product. I formerly ran Warwick Press in Weymouth, who, as you may know produced programmes for Weymouth, Poole and the recent Weymouth one untill Brian White downgraded the product and photocopied it himself, as well as some of the Conference League isues in the time of Alan Hodder.
Speedway is a great family sport and I have met so many people over the years, that on occasions come flooding back to mind, from riders like Pete Lansdale and Aub Lawson who always appeared so old, to youngsters who even now are retired from an active participation in the sport. As well as so many people with whom I have enjoyed friendly rivalry on the terraces. I actually went to school with Tony Lomas in Coventry, so you can imagine my vinatge. Keep up the good work." "I only just came across this site today and have been very impressed with it. I love anything to do with speedway in the 70s, as speedway was a big part of my life at that time. Like many speedway supporters, I have great memories of the sport and some wonderful venues. My first match was Cradley Heath Vs Hackney, and I visited Dudley Wood many times over the years and I am still very sad that it is no longer there. I had some great memories from Hyde Road too, in my opinion one of the best racer's tracks ever, and how I wish Crewe was still there too. It's so hard to explain what a great track it was at Earle Street, if anyone has any pictures of the Crewe track from the early 70s then I would love to see them. Speedway has changed so much over the years, but it's still a fantastic sport to watch and it will go on from strength to strength hopefully..........." |
| 8th February 2007 |
Paul Emmick's Point of ViewPaul Emmick takes a look at the Super7even series, wonders whether sport should adopt a 'survival of the fittest' approach and states that neither Ivan Mauger or Tony Rickardsson were the world's best ever rider. |
Track Pictures: ReadingThese additional pictures of Smallmead were taken by Graham Burrows and Graham Porter. |
Dream Team: Jay ReedJay selects a team of entertainers and includes American superstars Dennis Sigalos and John Cook. |
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Claim Your FREE Copy of Backtrack! We've teamed up once again with Retro-Speedway to offer you another incredible offer. For a limited time only SpeedwayPlus visitors can claim a free copy of Backtrack, the magazine that recalls the great days of the Seventies and Eighties. If you're not already a subscriber then this is an ideal way to see what the publication is all about. There are no hidden catches, costs or obligations, we simply hope you'll enjoy it sufficiently to consider paying for a copy in the future! Claiming your copy couldn't be easier. Simply email Tony McDonald at editorial@retro-speedway.com with your name, home address and quote "SpeedwayPlus free copy offer".
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"Ken Tyrrell asked back in November for the whereabouts of Brezolupy in the Czech Republic. Brezolupy is on Route 497 between Zlin and Uherske Hradiste. Uherske Hradiste is about 20km down the E50 from Brno in the east of the Czech Republic. Hope this helps." "This extract is both powerfully and vividly written, and could have almost come out of a
Hollywood film script, but it hasn't, it was real life and it's frightening. I have read about the deaths of other riders in other Speedway publications, however none have come remotely
near making me feel how I do about this article on Tommy's death. The author takes you fully into the Speedway riders world and makes you think you are actually there.
I don't know how
it has made other people feel, but my feelings were of hope and happiness for Tommy and his girlfriend. Anger at the track not being in in a safe racing condition, and a great feeling
of loss and sadness, as Tommy's loved ones and fellow riders learned of his death. I did once talk to Tommy on a ferry coming back from the 1975 World Team Cup final in Norden,
when he very kindly signed a photo of himself which appeared in one of Briggo's books. If the rest of this book is written as well as this extract, it deserves to become
an International Speedway best seller. Would I buy it? NO, I like happy endings." "What fantastic pictures. Brings it all back!" "Re John Hyam's comment on the Tuck riding in Canada. Our list, which is fairly comprehensive, thanks to Roger Stevens and Duncan Luke, show only a Ron Tuck as riding in Canada. Other English riders who rode in Canada after riding in England were Alan Kidd (who captained the Hamilton Team) and John Sargent (who captained the Toronto team). They raced for the Gulliver Team Trophy in 1959 at the ill fated Dundas track just outside of Hamilton. Ontario." |
| 2nd February 2007 |
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Issue 6 of our FREE downloadable magazine is now available. The 24 page magazine is is in PDF (Adobe Acrobat) format and only 683KB in size. Inside this issue:
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